Some Seal Moms Take Flippers-Off Approach

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Gray seals have widely varying mothering styles, with some
inattentive seal moms barely checking up on their pups at all,
even if they sense a threat to their safety, a new study on seal
colonies in Scotland finds.

The scientists involved in the study contributed the various
parenting styles to personality differences among the
wild gray seals (Halichoerus grypus). Their
personalities determine how these marine mammals respond to
different situations, and, in turn, the extent to which they
guard and care for their young, according to the study.

Over the course of two years, the researchers observed seals in
their natural habitat on the Scottish island of North Rona during
their breeding season, which takes place between September and
November. Monitoring the
behavior of the seals for two years was possible because many
seals return to the same site to breed, and the researchers were
able to identify particular seals by their individual fur
patterns.

To study how the seals
reacted to external stimuli and potential threats, the team
fitted a remote-controlled vehicle (RCV) with a video camera and
programmed the vehicle to approach the seals. The researchers
conducted 11-minute-long tests on 28 females, during which the
vehicle approached the seals while emitting a wolf call.

The results showed that
the seals' responses ranged from completely ignoring the
RCV's presence to being aggressive and pushing it with their
muzzles. The team gauged the seal mothers' responses by recording
how many times the moms checked on their pups during a specific
time period. Females tend to stay with their pups and conduct
"checks" on them by raising their heads off the ground and moving
it in the direction of their young in order to verify the pups'
well-being.

"We found that some seal mothers are very watchful when something
potentially threatening approaches them, while other mums
(mothers) barely check their pups at all," study researcher Sean
Twiss of Durham University said in a statement. "Why female gray
seals express individually consistent patterns of pup checking is
unknown."

Twiss added that you'd expect the moms "to change their behavior
according to the situation, but the non-attentive mothers
remained inattentive."

The researchers also used the RCV to check the male seals'
responses, finding a similarly wide range of "fathering," with
some seals rapidly retreating while other males approached the
RCV in a challenging way, such as with their mouths open, which
seals view as a threat.

"Our findings show that there is no such thing as an average
seal," Twiss said. "Individuals behave differently and do so
consistently."

Among both male and female seals, responses were not linked to
factors such as age or size. The researchers noted that further
studies are needed to better understand the nature and ecological
consequences of individual differences in behavior.

The study was recently published in the journal Marine Mammal
Science, and its findings will be presented at the 19th Biennial
Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in Tampa, Fla., which
started Sunday (Nov. 27) and continues through Friday (Dec. 2).

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